Trump's 'Make America great again' hats were the opposite of traditional campaigning — and that's how they became iconic

The Make America Great Again hat on display in a glass
case at the Trump campaign's party on election
night.Getty/Mark
Wilson

No matter what Trump's campaign hats represent to you, there's no
denying they've become an icon of modern American politics.

But how they came together is a mirror of Trump's campaign
itself, according to
a CNN chronicle of the hat's genesis. Much like the campaign
was put together with minimal thought to its design, so was
the hat.

"It was undesigned," Lindsey Ballant, a designer and adjunct
professor at the Maryland College of Art,
told CNN. "It didn't represent what one thinks of when you
think of traditional politics in terms of visual messaging, and
that's essentially what Trump was as well."

The hat is merely a plain trucker-style cap in primary
colors (plus camouflage) with some contrasting lettering in a
Times New Roman font. In short, there's nothing groundbreaking
about the hat's design as is, but that's not to say its
success was an accident.

It represented a foil of Trump's political opponents, and
this simplicity was stark in the face of his opponent Hillary
Clinton's highly orchestrated campaign.

"In contrast, Hillary's campaign was incredibly thought out. It
was elaborate. There was a whole system driven around the
simplicity and the beauty of the logo mark," Ballant
told CNN.

Trump throws his campaign hat into the crowd at a
campaign speech.Getty/Drew
Angerer

It seems the simplicity of the hat is what cemented it
in the minds of both supporters and detractors alike. The
hats were undoubtedly a success, as the Trump campaign bought
$2.8 million in hats from the main Los Angeles-based
manufacturer, according to CNN's review of
campaign documents, and that doesn't even count the large
number of knock-off hats produced.

It certainly had some type of strong appeal, even to Trump's
opponents. Groups who didn't support Trump's campaign put their
own versions out, like the Human Rights Campaign's "Make America
LGBTQ again" hat in blue.

There was even a period in 2015 before Trump's
candidacy seemed like it would be successful when
the hats were worn ironically in the hippest enclaves of
liberal cities,
according to the New York Times.